Though staff members and older students are with the teams to ensure safety, they make sure the team is solving problems and leading the hike. If the team goes off trail or makes mistakes, the supervisors simply follow, requiring the team to figure out solutions.
After three weeks of training, the teams are ready for the five-day trek. Because there are so many freshmen (last year nearly 150 students participated in the project), the teams depart over three days to ensure minimal overcrowding on the trail.
Though some students have camped before via Boy Scouts or family outings, most have never spent the night in the woods prior to preparing for the backpacking trip. Some are receptive to the trip; others are not.
“Some kids are afraid of their own shadow and extremely afraid of bugs and spiders,” Cassidy says. “It’s funny when they are tough kids in school but scared bugs on the Trail.”
After the trip, some students choose to participate again as upperclassmen, helping to guide the new freshmen. Others are happy to never return to the woods again.
“Some get to the point where they don’t care about the bugs anymore, they just want to get home. Some go home and burn their boots,” Cassidy says.
No matter whether they enjoy the experience or not, the five-day hike is memorable for all.
“It’s something the kids hold dear,” Cassidy says. “They may hate every step, but former students come back in 30 years telling stories from their time on the Trail.”
“It’s something the kids hold dear,” Cassidy says. “They may hate every step, but former students come back in 30 years telling stories from their time on the Trail.”
The headmaster and teacher spent a few weeks learning the basics of backpacking and then began teaching the students. Soon after, a teacher came on board with a strong background in hiking and camping, adding structure to the program that’s helped it continue over the years.
Though small tweaks have been made to the project over the years to accommodate the increasing number of students and their diversifying needs, it’s largely the same as it was in 1974. In the past nearly 50 years, 4,000 St. Benedict's Preparatory School students have hiked the Trail, learning the lessons only a few days of backpacking with teammates can teach.
Jessica Porter is a freelance writer and editor who thru-hiked the A.T. in 2014. For more information, visit www.JessicaLynnePorter.com. Photography: ©2018 Horizonline Pictures